You’re in a Hurry and Don’t Know Why | A Hard Winter Training

0:00Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast designed to help bring those four key Stoic virtues courage discipline justice and wisdom into the real world You're in a hurry and you don't know why It's never slow with us. Is it we're always rushing rushing to get ready in the morning rushing on the way to work rushing through our lunch zipping through our to-do list rushing to grab the kids from school rushing to finish this phone call rushing to get dinner cooked rushing to an airplane or a train rushing through a book. We're reading fast forwarding through commercials rushing through a bedtime routine It seems like we're rushing everywhere all the time Sometimes it's because there are real deadlines flights or getting to a meeting on time But even then why do we act like it's the most important thing in the world

1:03We are rushing always as if we're not rushing through our own lives as if we're not filling ourselves and our families Restress and anxiety We would do well to remember the Alabama lyrics I'm in a hurry to get things done Oh, I rushing rushing to last no fun All I really got to do is live and die But I'm in a hurry and don't know why Slow down pause Take a breath because one day you'll realize you rushed through too much of your life too much of your loved ones life You realized that as you were rushing you were dying as Sena said You were rushing through something you could never get back You rushed through beautiful details that you might have otherwise noticed if you took your time And the rushing you thought was urgent while some days seem so small compared to the moments the days and the gears of your life

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4:10For up to three hundred and fifty dollars off and you can get 30 days to try it at home and return it if you don't love it A hard winter training the art of living has three levels of discipline study practice and hard training Reading the stoics or listening to them that study Trying out the lessons and reflecting on them in a journal The friend that's practice. What's left though is hard training Epic teetus like to use the analogy of the Roman army's practice of training hard in the off months of winter So that they could be prepared to meet any challenge when they return to battle in the spring Sennaka would spend time each month exposing himself to tougher than usual conditions He too used a military analogy pointing to the way that soldiers are tasked with hard job so they could be Strong when the enemy eventually came So what are you doing in your life to push yourself beyond mere study and practice and this is from this week's entry in the daily stoic journal

5:17366 days of writing and reflection on the art of living by yours truly and my co-writer and translator Stephen Hanselman I actually do this journal every single day. There's a question in the morning a question in the afternoon Then there's these sort of weekly meditations as epic teetus says every day and night we keep thoughts like this at hand Write them read them aloud and talk to yourself and others about them Can check out the daily stoic journal anywhere books are sold and also get a signed personalized copy for me in the daily stoic store It's stored at dailystalk.com This idea of keeping the thoughts at hand really ties into this week's entry We've got two quotes from Epictetus in one from Senica We must undergo a hard winter training and not rush into things for which we haven't prepared That's Epictetus in his discourses Here's Senica in moral letters 18 Here's a lesson to test your mind's metal take part of the week in which you have only the most meager and cheap food Dress scantily and shabby clothes and ask yourself this is really the worst you feared

6:17It is when times are good that you should gird yourself for tougher times ahead For when fortune is kind the soul can build up defenses against her ravages So it is that the soldiers practice maneuvers in peacetime erecting bunkers with no enemies in sight And exhausting themselves under no attack so they don't when it comes they won't grow tired And then finally epictetus says when a challenge confronts you remember that God is matching you with a younger sparring partner As would a physical trainer why because becoming an Olympian takes sweat I think that no one has a better challenge than yours if only you would use it like an athlete would use a younger sparring partner So a couple things here one I sometimes get this question. Should I seek out adversity if adversity is such a good teacher should I seek it out? I say look for the most part life is gonna give us most of the training we need Life's gonna throw most of the adversity we need at us So you don't need to go like getting yourself into troubles You can know what a prison cell feels like right? I don't think that's really what it is

7:21As epictetus is saying look instead of bemoaning the adversity when you do feel it go like hey This is good. This is training. I need it. I'm gonna use this. So I think about that way How are you though actively engaged in training that makes you stronger More mentally tough more physically tough. So to me, this is where like a strong physical practice comes in It's also where getting up early maybe intermittent fasting maybe cold showers But mostly working out because I love working out, but still every time I have to Convince myself to do it right. I love running. It's almost painful not to run But there's still lots of days when I don't want to do it and still be easier to go slower I have to push myself every single time but every time I do it I get better at pushing myself Right? I usually do some sort of weight training about four days a week as well and so That is much less fun for me and I really do have to push myself to do it And that training though the act of pushing myself to do something that I'm uncomfortable with that's not fun that challenges me

8:26This doesn't just make me stronger and more fit and better at chasing my kids around the house What it really does is make me better at overriding that impulse that I don't want to do something because it's hard or that I'm afraid Or that's going to be exhausting and you think I don't wake up so many days and I don't feel it I don't want to do it. It's hard. What if I phone it in today's anyone really watching will anyone know Well, I've trained for exactly that kind of insidious opponent As Stephen Pressfield talks about I know the resistance well I have built up a lot of muscles that make me stronger than the resistance And that's where this training comes in and I think that's a metaphor for all forms of adversity difficulty resistance weakness in life and so I hope you have some sort of active practice Use the adversity train against it when it's there but also build some active daily practices or weekly practices in your life as well

9:37We are split up